YAK-3 - $5.95

The Yakovlev Yak-3 (Russian: Як-3) was a World War II Soviet fighter aircraft regarded as one of the best fighters of the war. It was one of the smallest and lightest major combat fighters fielded by any combatant during the war, and its high power-to-weight ratio gave it excellent performance.

Yakovlev Yak-3

Russian WWII YAK-3 Fighter

This is a 'fun' model that can even be mounted on skis that are included as an option. This is an important inclusion to our kit of WWII Top Ten fighters because so many of them were made and, interestingly, are being reproduced again for the world market. It's possibly the most agile monoplane in WWII-the basic essence of the YAK was robust simplicity.

One of the most successful series of single engine fighter aircraft produced by the Soviets during WWII came from the Yakovlev Design Bureau and these included the Yak-1, Yak-3, Yak-7, and Yak-9. These designations are a bit confusing since the designs were not produced in numerical order.

Yak-3

This Yakovlev Yak-3 is the model that won the FG Modeling Madness (FGMM) 2010 best in class prize.
Thanks to Joshua Hughes who donated his $20 prize money to the Angels fund!!

One of the most successful series of single engine fighter
aircraft produced by the Soviets during WWII came from the Yakovlev
Design Bureau and these included the Yak-1, Yak-3, Yak-7, and
Yak-9. These designations are a bit confusing since the designs
were not produced in numerical order.

The Yak-3 was developed alongside the Yak-9 but with a different
mission since the type was originally designed to work in cooperation
with the Soviet army at low altitude. It differed in a number
of ways from the Yak-9 and had a smaller wingspan.

Essentially a lightweight clipped wing variant of the Yak-9,
Pilots report that the aircraft flew similar to the Spitfire
but with better initial climb. Praised for being light,
fast, and rugged, the Yak-3 was rated as "superior"
to the FW 190 and the Bf 109G which it was meeting on a daily
basis.

You'll always have better luck building models if you test the
fit before gluing the parts together permanently. The wing fairing's
incorporate an air scoop at the leading edge and after they're
installed, why not cut out the opening.

Possibly the most agile monoplane of World War I, the basic
essence of Yak design was robust simplicity. There was an overriding
requirement caused by the harsh Russian climate and a need to
remain operational over vast snowbound areas, far from industrial
facilities, with the minimum of servicing. Instruments and other
delicate systems were restricted to absolute essentials such
as rev-counters, pressure meters, and the coolant thermometer.

This is a 'fun' model that can even be mounted on skis that
are included as an option. This was an important member of the
Fiddlers Green WWII 'Special Merit' club. You'll enjoy making
this colorful model..it's well worth being included in this series.

Soviet aircraft take their designation from the designer
rather than the manufacturer. In 925, Aleksandr S. Yakovlev began
to design gliders, but ten years later he embarked on a study
of fighters, and when in I 938 the Soviet government had an urgent
need in this field he quickly came up with the Ya-26 Krasavec
(beauty) prototype which flew in March 1939. This wood and tubular
steel fighter was typically Russian in having a huge engine in
a small airframe, with very limited armament.

Soviet pilots,
often badly trained, found it difficult to fly at first, and
many Yak-I production fighters crashed, Production was in full
swing by the German invasion of 22 June 941, but by October I
941 production had to be transferred 1600km from Moscow to Kamensk-Uralskii,
east of the Urals.

By the end of that year output had not only
been restored but increased enormously, and eventually more Yaks
(all types) were built than any other fighter in aviation history,
accounting for 60% of all Soviet fighters built during
1941-45. In about 18 months the Yak was the subject of so much
rapid development that the Yak-9 actually entered service in
the winter of 1942.

Originally designated the 7D1, the Yak-9, while retaining
its wooden skin, incorporated portions of light alloy structure
which gave it a greater fuel capacity, This, together with very
many detail improvements, enabled its pilots to meet the German
Sf lO9Fs and Gs in the terrible battle of Stalingrad on roughly
equal terms, In fact, the Yak's only problem was its relative
lack of firepower.

In 1944, when the smaller Yak-3 dog fighter
entered service, its performance was so impressive that the Luftwaffe
command issued orders to its pilots that engagement with this
fighter was to be avoided at all costs, In 1944, the Normandie-Niemen
Group (a Soviet-based Free French squadron) scored a total of
273 kills against the Luftwaffe, all gained on Yak fighters given
to the group by the Soviet Union; over one-third were attributable
to Yak-3s. Later still, the remarkably durable Yak-9 was employed
against its former allies in the I 950-S3 conflict in Korea.

The basic essence of Yak design was robust simplicity, an
overriding requirement caused by the harsh Russian climate and
a need to remain operational over vast snowbound areas, far from
industrial facilities, with the minimum of servicing. Instruments
and other delicate systems were restricted to absolute essentials
such as rev-counters and pressure-meters, and the indispensable
coolant thermometer. There were no gyroscopic indicators at first
other than that showing turn and bank.

Fuel gauges were located
in the tops of the tanks in the wings, but this posed much less
of a problem than might at first be supposed. From mid-1942 the
Yak-IM had a very advanced cockpit canopy, reinforced at the
front and rear with thickened armored glass, which afforded
the pilot improved all-round vision, particularly to the rear,
which helped save many lives. The Yak-9 was the first single-seat
fighter in the world to have this invaluable facility, just one
of many that made this aircraft so well-loved by the men who
flew it.

Aleksandr S. Yakovlev designed his innovative aeroplane with
the pilot always in mind: another safety factor was a system
by which the fuel tanks received the burnt exhaust gases purified
through a filter as they gradually emptied, so that the omnipresent
danger of an explosion during aerial combat was vastly reduced.
And, although the aircraft in practice spent most of their life
at low and medium altitudes, each had an oxygen mask on a hook
at the cockpit's left side.

This often incorporated a radio telephone
headset but, as wearing this restricted head movement, most pilots
preferred to fly in silence and rely upon the good all-round
vision. Many Yaks had no radio, Curiously, pilots also needed
to unbuckle their seat-straps which, unlike those of Western
aircraft, held the pilot's shoulders rigidly fixed. Stranger
still, this tight harness design was never modified, not even
in the Yak-3.

The Yak-9s and -3s did, however, embody many improvements,
not least being that of firepower. A 20mm ShVAK rapid-fire cannon
firing through the hub of the propeller was standard on most
Yaks, with one or two heavy BS machine guns above. .A few Yak-9Ts
and -9Ks had enormous anti-tank cannon, Some had a 45mm gun,
but because of the recoil and tendency to jam, this was soon
replaced with a 37mm cannon.

This installation was used to great
effect during and after the Battle of Kursk, but it too demanded
certain care in operation because the recoil reaction served
to reduce airspeed. On at least one occasion a pilot turned this
drawback into an advantage by firing the cannon to act as a brake
on a too-short icy landing strip.

Although it closely resembled the Yak-9 in silhouette, the
Yak-3 was a lighter, faster and an even more elegant aircraft.
Weighing only 2670kg in full battle order, it had an astonishing
rate of climb, held beautifully firm in tight turns, and generally
performed with tremendous vivacity, British pilots who flew both
machines compared it very favorably with the Spitfire.

Inevitably
though, the early batches of this remarkable aircraft had their
teething troubles, and perhaps the most disconcerting of these
concerned the undercarriage retention gear. Having apparently
hooked back into the retracted position, the undercarriage would
often, when the pilot put on a sudden burst of speed. Drop down
suddenly with a juddering thud.

But thanks to continued design efforts this and other faults
were always quickly remedied. Yak-9s and -3s went on long after
the end of World War II to be flown by a wide variety of air
forces in many parts of the world. The Yak-9 trainer was produced
in Poland in 1946. The Normandie-Niemen Group were permitted to retain their
Yak-3s and took them back to France when hostilities ceased:
one example is preserved in the Muse de l'Air at Le Bourget.
Last of the wartime Yaks, the -9U, was retained in Germany and
ironically, used for the 'buzzing' and harassment of Western
aircraft during the Berlin Airlift, when the Russians attempted
to isolate that city in 1948-49.

The Yak-9, itself produced in a number of variants, represented
the culmination of a highly successful line of single-engine
fighters and trainers from the Yakovlev design bureau whose combined
production total was some 30,000.

It stemmed from the 1-26 prototype
of 1938, which became the Yak-l in production in 1940, via the
Yak-7, and the machines which acted as Yak-9 prototypes were
originally designated Yak-7D1, signifying that they were designed
as long-range fighters.

They appeared in the first half of 1942,
differing from the standard Yak-7B fighter chiefly in making
greater use of light alloys. Production began in autumn 1942,
and the Yak-9 was in operational service by the turn of the year
in the Stalingrad fighting. In 1943 the Yak-9 began to be used
as an anti-tank aircraft, being modified for this purpose as
the Yak-9T to carry a 37mm cannon or a lighter weapon in the
forward part of the fuselage.

This was followed in 1944 by the
Yak-9K, mounting a 45mm cannon that fired through the propeller
shaft. The Yak-9B was a fighter-bomber version equipped to carry
a 9921b (450kg) bomb internally, and in 1943-44 the Yak-9D and
Yak-9D emerged as variants with their range further increased
to provide fighter cover for advancing troops and for bombing
raids over enemy-held territory. One squadron of these. flying
from southern Italy after the Italian armistice, provided support
for the partisan forces in Yugoslavia, and other Yak-9 variants
served with Polish and French units (including the celebrated
Norrnandie-Niemen group) fighting in the USSR. The last major
version to serve during the war was the all metal Yak-9U, whose
prototype flew in January 1944.

This became operational during,
the second half of that year and was characterized chiefly by
further aerodynamic refinements and the adoption of the new l,600 hp
VK-107A engine which raised the top speed to 435mph (700kmh).
The Yak-9U climbed from sea level to l8,400ft (5,000m) in nearly
30 seconds less than the Messerschmitt Bf 109G. The final Yak-9
variant (known briefly as the Yak-Il) was the Yak-9P of 1945.
This saw little service in World War 2. but was a standard postwar
fighter and fighter-bomber with Soviet air forces, including
the North Korean Air Force during 1950-53.

Paul Needham sends in this photo of his flying YAK-9 saying ....it
flies indoor on rubber and currently does around 40 seconds.
It flies very slowly in wide left hand turns and I think when
I have found the right length of rubber and number of turns it
should fly for over a minute. Just copied your markings using
a felt tip pen ! Cut the stars out and used them as a stencil.